Saturday, October 17, 2015

The Evil Dead analogy!

This morning, I stumbled upon a slew of reviews from +Timothy Brannan of The Other Side blog fame. I'll post links below, but first I wanted to approach my RPG catalog with an analogy...

There are some books of mine that are more like The Evil Dead, an old school horror movie containing subtle moments of whimsy and humor, but plays it straight faced. I'd categorize Liberation of the Demon Slayer, Revelry in Torth, and The Outer Presence as Evil Dead. Precious little "monkey business".

There are other books which are more like Evil Dead II, a nice mix between horror and comedy. Like the film, these books don't take themselves too seriously. Plenty of scares and laughs throughout. I'm thinking of The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence, No Escape from New York, and my upcoming Alpha Blue.

It wasn't until this summer that I just let go and went total Army of Darkness with Crimson Dragon Slayer and Descent into the Candy Crypts (No Escape from New York is sort of a hybrid between II and III, I guess).

Now, when I first went to go see Army of Darkness in the theater, I was in High School. For whatever reason, I didn't get it at the time. I thought it was cheesy, stupid, and not particularly funny. It wasn't until I watched The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II and then saw Army of Darkness for a second time that I "got it". The cheesy stupidity was on purpose! It was a parody of the genre and also a self-parody of itself. It tried so hard to be ridiculously awesome that it became awesomely ridiculous.

I assure those willing to try Crimson Dragon Slayer that playing it can be a richer experience than merely reading the rules, just as a comedy script won't be nearly as much fun as watching the movie itself.

Anyway, without further ado, Here is Tim's review of How to Game Master like a Fucking Boss (doesn't really fit any of the categories). There is his review of Crimson Dragon Slayer. This is his review of The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence. That is his review of Liberation of the Demon Slayer.